Staff Member

Laos expects more heavy trucks from China to arrive once railway construction begins

9 December
Around 1,000 heavy trucks from China are expected to daily pass through the Boten International Crossing Border Checkpoint in Luang Namtha Province once the Lao-China Railway Construction Project begins, Lao official told Xinhua and other media.
"Currently, there are more than 400 trucks passing the checkpoint per day. To receive the large number of arriving trucks, the checkpoint will extend its working hours from normal to 10 p.m.," said Phonexay Chanthasone, head of Lao Boten Crossing Border Checkpoint.
The goods imported from China in 2016 amounted to more than 85 million U.S. dollars while the export volume from Laos was 8 million U.S. dollars, said the official.
Most imported goods from China were heavy machines and household utensils. Laos' main export to China was agricultural produce.
The Laos-China Railway Project is likely to bring such benefits to the Laos as strong economic infrastructure, the achievement of cooperation and connectivity strategies, increased foreign investment, and reduced production costs, according to Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport.
Passenger trains on Laos-China Railway will travel at 160 km per hour, while the speed of rail freight will be 120 km per hour.
The railway is expected to link with the track in Thailand to form part of the regional rail link known as the Kunming-Singapore railway, covering a total distance of about 3,000 km
Source: Laos expects more heavy trucks from China to arrive once railway construction begins
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Construction set to commence on Laos-China railway this month

2 December 2016
CONSTRUCTION of the Laos-China railway will start this month, with work to begin in several provinces simultaneously, an official in charge of the project has said.
This approach will ensure that construction of the historic rail line, linking Vientiane to the Chinese border over a distance of 427km, is completed within the five-year target period. The construction cost is estimated at almost US$6 billion (Bt214 billion). Director of the Laos-China Railway construction project and Director of the Lao National Railway Company, Dr Koung Souk-Aloun, told Vientiane Times on Tuesday that construction equipment and machinery are in place to start drilling tunnels for the northernmost section of the track.
“We have signed agreements with Chinese construction |companies and consultancy firms who are preparing to start construction very soon,” he said.
“We will start work in several places at the same time to ensure that all construction work is carried out and completed according to plan.”
Dr Koung said the authorities are in the process of making compensation payments to families who will have to abandon their property to make way for the railway and a lot of progress has been made in Vientiane province in this respect.
Another outstanding component of the project is the signing of a concession agreement, but we expect to sign it this month, Dr Koung said. Demarcation of the railway has been completed.
The Laos-China section is part of a railway that will run from Kunming in China to Singapore and is part of the Belt and Road Initiative that China will use to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia and the rest of the world.
Kunming to Lao border
China is now building a railway from Kunming to the Lao border at Luang Namtha province, which will connect to the section running from the border to Vientiane.
The Lao and Chinese governments held an official ground-breaking ceremony for the Vientiane-Kunming section of the railway last December. But various procedures needed to be completed before work could begin on the Lao section, including the payment of compensation to people who would be displaced by the project.
The two sides set up a joint venture company to oversee the project with Laos holding a 30 per cent share and China being responsible for the remainder.
The planned single track will have a 1.435-metre standard-gauge rail network with 33 stations, of which 21 will open for use in the initial stage.
There will be 72 tunnels with a total length of 183.9 km, representing 43 per cent of the project's total length. The railway will also have 170 bridges measuring 69.2km in length, accounting |for 15.8 per cent of the total distance.
When being used for passenger transport, trains will travel at a maximum speed of 160km per hour, but when goods are being transported the maximum speed will be 120km per hour.
Source: Construction set to commence on Laos-China railway this month - The Nation

7 billion dollars Laos-China high speed railway
The railway would be 421km long and include 190km of tunnels and 90km of bridges. It is envisaged that electric trains travelling at 200km per hour would carry passengers and trains travelling at 120 km per hour would carry freight.​